History Repeats Itself
by Kinne340
Summary: About a year ago Kira was defeated. Now another death note has made it's way in to the human world and Kira has been reborn. L, Mello and Near set out to solve the new Kira case which turns out to be more difficult than they first thought LxOC MxOC NxOC
1. Prologue: Death note Rewrite

Light Yagami died on January 28, 2013 from a sudden heart attack from his name being written in the Death Note of the Shinigami that gave him this ability. Nate River, also known as Near, defeated Kira. Near then took the place of L as the great detective.

Near wasn't alone while solving this case. His rival, and old school mate of his, Mello sacrificed his life to give Near the last bit of proof he needed to pin down that Kira was indeed Light Yagami. Near said at the time of Mello's death that he was the single most important person into proving who Kira was. Together Near and Mello were a force said to be stronger then L, apart they were just behind him.

However, L, Lawliet, was the true mastermind behind it all. He was the first to discover that the killer needed a name and a face. He was the first to discover that there were two killers. He was the first to suspect that Light Yagami and Misa Amane were the murders trying to play god.

Lawliet died November 5 2007 by Rem the Shinigami in attempts to save Misa as Light planned.

To kill a Shinigami the Shinigami will write the name of a human down that will purposely prolong another's life. This was not known till Gelous turned to dust saving a young girl's life in front of Rem. In turn, Rem turned to dust saving Misa once again. However, her plan didn't follow Light's at all by just a small miscalculation. Watari's name was written first. He gave the information to L that he has been killed. However, Light saw this coming. Moments later L fell to the ground with the same symptoms of a heart attack.

But he did not die.

Light did not check for Ryuzaki's death. He knew exactly what happened; his plan succeeded. While everyone went searching for the Shinigami that caused the deaths of the two he switched himself out with a fake body. Everyone believed L had died, even Kira. It was a fate that L wanted for himself after the lose of Watari.

He didn't know exactly how to unfold his plan, how to fake his death in time with Light's plan and be able to live to tell the tale. Watari passing first was the only for sure way he could tell. But why had they killed the old man as well?

L hid temporarily defeated by Light.

His successors, Near and Mello took the investigation. It was easy to survey what Near was doing. All of the data was backed up and relayed live to Wammy's House. It was quiet simple for L to watch the other half of his replacement as well. Together the two could be great, but separate L could out maneuver them. They were taught his same secrets.

Because of L most of Kira's secrets were out. Just pinning him was the only problem. He knew exactly how to finish the case. It was time for him to come out of hiding.

L approached Mello. His look had changed slightly. The darkness around his eyes were darker, his skin was paler, and he himself looked weaker. But his mind was as sharp as ever and his voice was full of confidence.

Helping Near. Mello was already planning on doing that.

"Together you two might be a force to be reckoned with," L said. "Maybe even better than me... That is if I didn't already see all of this coming. Though, you know, you might still die from doing this."

"It doesn't matter. Just remember, I thought of it first."

Mello, and Matt who was unaware of L's reappearance, kidnapped Takada. However, everything didn't go as planned. His emotions got the better of him and Mello made grave mistakes. He failed to get the scrap of Death Note from Takada and he showed her his face once he thought he won. That and Matt was shot down helping the cause, just as Watari was murdered. However, Mello too, did not die. Kira killed her before she wrote down the name. In flames again Mello escaped death.

What L would have done to have walked in when Light was finally caught. To see the look on his face to know that he had never died. But perhaps this was better. He wasn't sure if he could see the look on his friend's face.

Kill or be killed... one of them had to die no matter what.

It wasn't Near that took over being the Great Detective L. It was L himself that took back his name.

Detective L was on the case.


	2. The Return of Kira

_**Kinne340: Thank you for reading this past the prologue! This is something a friend and I have been writing for a while and we decided to put it up on here so please enjoy. Also a small note. This has references to the anime, manga and a few to the live action movies such as some characters. There are also quite a few original characters. **_

There were whispers everywhere you went.

"I heard it was another heart attack."

"Another one? So maybe it really is true."

Something was starting.

"Do you think it's really true?"

"It's obvious isn't is?"

"Criminals are dieing just like last time . It has to be true."

People were slowly but surely becoming aware of this fact.

"It's starting all over again."

"The world might actually start cleaning up."

"It did before. This time shouldn't be any different."

"I wonder why it stopped before..."

Their eyes turn hopefully to the news, searching for the next to be killed, to verify the truth.

"It was verified that Keiichi Takewa, arrested last week for the kidnapping and murder of A five year old girl, has died while awaiting trial. The cause of death seems to have been a massive heart attack."

This murderers death seems to be the cue that everyone was waiting for.

"It was Kira!"

"Kira has returned!"

Those on the street that had gathered to see the report broke out in to a frenzy of cries.

"Kira!"

"So it has started all over again," Matsuda said as the television shut in the briefing room. "This time, everyone's supporting him."

"This won't last long," Chief Aizawa said quickly. He put the remote back down on the desk. "Near already has all the information he needs. All they need to now is just figure out who it is."

"Still, did you see them all? They want him back."

"You are not going to start that up again are you Matsuda?"

"No, of course not, sir!"

"How are your wife and kid anyway?"

"They are great sir!" Without a hitch he shifted from talking about the new Kira to his family.

"Following Light's footsteps," L said as he poured chocolate syrup into a little glass. "These Kira don't get original do they?"

"Light made really big shoes to fill. Not one has shown that they could do it," a young white haired boy said. He had grown a few more inches over the years but he still had the look of a child, and still wore all white. The large city scape looked rather close to being an exact model of Tokyo.

"But this one is starting to become a problem." L took a sip from his cup.

"Any day now they are going to be calling for you."

"I expect that the NPA is going to try tracking him first... You remember that they have been tracking Kira far longer than you, Near."

"I think you are over estimating your old team. They were working with Kira for that whole time."

"Exactly. They know what to look for now... Wait... Does the taskforce know that I am alive?"

"No, they don't."

"Perhaps I should tell them..."

They had all been excepting that it would come sooner or later. So when the call came they weren't at all surprised. It was perhaps a little surprising that the meeting place between them and L would take place at the hotel where they had first met Ryuzaki all those years ago when it first started.

"It's too bad that we won't be seeing Ryuzaki here today." Matsuda sighed slightly as the everyone entered the hotel.

"I don't particularly miss him," Ide said.

"I find it odd..." Aizawa said as they headed toward the elevator he didn't sound like he was paying much attention to what the two were saying at all.

"What do you find odd?" Matsuda shifted his attention to the chief as they got in to the elevator. The doors closed and a few seconds later they were moving upward.

"What is Near calling us for? And why to here of all places."

"It's probably just coincidence, Chief. They did both come from the same place," Ide replied. "Why he called I wouldn't know. We are the remaining of the Task Force."

"Near doesn't seem to be the person to do something for _old times sake_."

"That's true." Matsuda agreed about Near. "Well we are the ones who were investigating the original Kira case the longest." It would make sense to have them helping in at least some way. They had worked on that case for a little over five years. Not to mention that over all that time they had actually been working with Kira.

"Well I want nothing more of this Kira case. I finished that a year ago, I'm done," Ide said.

"Whatever Near is planning. I want you to answer the way you want to. Don't do it because of what he says or what you think I want."

"You are starting to sound like Chief Yagami."

"It's the same room and everything..." Aizawa continued. Something about this seemed too much like just for old times sake. It was an exact repeat. He walked up to the door and entered it just as they had 7 years ago. It has really been that long...

Aizawa was the first person in and therefore the first person to see. He stopped dead in his tracks making Matsuda walk right in to him. After a general complain of the abrupt halt his jaw dropped. All for of them were frozen on the spot with varying expressions of awe and shock on their faces.

"Yo, long time no see. I see you all are doing well."

For a moment none of them moved as they all gaped. Of course the first to talk was Matsuda.

"Ry... Ryuzaki! But... Your dead!"

"I feel quiet alive actually. All of you I am worried about. Perhaps you should sit down."

"But... We saw you die!" Matsuda refused to let it drop with out an explanation.

"Nope," he unwraps a sucker and puts it in his mouth. "You saw me fall to the ground. That was it."

"But you were defiantly dead... " Mogi seemed more calm than Matsuda but was just as pale and shocked looking. "We checked."

"After you went on the ghost hunt for the Shinigami that killed Watari. Thank you for forgetting that. Otherwise my plan would have failed entirely."

"That still doesn't explain how you weren't dead then were dead and now you aren't dead!" Matsuda again contributed to the confusing conversation. But though they wouldn't have put it that way they did agree.

"Yes well. I had a thought that the Shinigami was getting defensive over Misa being that she is the Second Kira. Light was going to use that to his advantage and have the Shinigami kill me instead. To what I have deducted, Shinigami don't know much about, well whatever happened. Apparently, Shinigami can only write one name before they die or return to there world or, again, whatever happened. That is how I lived. Watari gave me enough of a warning to fake my heart attack in the 48 seconds after my name was written. You were all set that I had died from the Shinigami and trusted Light enough to not even think I was only traumatized over Watari's sudden death. And again, I thank you for that.

"The body was a fake that Watari and I created. I was planning on using that act later but I didn't have the chance."

They all blinked almost stupidly at him. The information wasn't quiet connecting to their brains right yet, and who could blame them. After all a person that they had believed to be dead for about six years was standing here in front of them matter of factly telling them that he had never really died.

"And all those years you let us go on thinking you were dead..." was the first thing that was said.

"I had to make sure that Light thought I was dead. If Near and Mello failed I was going to have to pick up the case again. I am sure you understand me there."

"Yeah I guess so..."

They were all still failing to fully comprehend the whole situation. In the end it was probably best just to accept the fact that he was alive and not think to much on the how of it.

"We could have done it, L," Mello said from the corner. The corner he was in was oddly dark compared to the rest of the room making him a little harder to see.

"Yes, but you wouldn't have if I came back early now would you," L replied.

And once again their jaws dropped in shock. How many people that they thought were dead were going to pop back in to existence.

"Oh right," Near said from near by. "I didn't tell you all that Mello escaped Kira."

"You didn't tell them a lot of things, Near," Mello said casting a look to the white boy.

"I was busy..." Near said.

"As I was saying. I did not take part in the end. That was all of your work. Especially you Aizawa. You saw through Light's plan just as I did... though much later of course." L then continued, "Please, now will you sit down? We still have more to talk about, unless you still believe that you are seeing a ghost." They all found seats at L's request. The whole scene had a very familiar feel to it. The only differences were that two of their number were missing and two others were present. Other than that this could have been exactly what had taken place six years ago when they had all started working on the original Kira case. They calmed down a little bit once they were seated and with the slightly tense but familiar feeling it was easy to feel more comfortable.

"This is about the new Kira right Ryuzaki?" Matsuda asked.

"Yes. This Kira seems to have taken a liking to using the Death Note to only kill criminals... Just like Light. I think it is safe to say that we are not the only ones that have noticed this."

"Well it seems like pretty much everyone knows that only criminals are dieing again."

"It wouldn't be a surprise to me if the police force won't investigate Kira again. Also I will find it safe to say that most countries will support Kira. Especially now that they are not being threatened." L cast a side glance over to the corner where Mello was standing. He quickly turned his head away from their conversation.

They all glanced in Mello's direction after L did. None of their faces were exactly friendly as they regarded the blond man.

"Exactly. In other words, we can't do anything," Mello said feeling the need to say something now that everyone was staring at him. "We need support to convince the other task forces in Japan to support L on catching this new Kira before he becomes a threat like the last one."

"So far it is safe to say that the new Kira knows only as much as the rules say on the front cover. That is if the Shinigami wrote them. We have already concluded using the same methods that L did in the original investigation that this one hasn't been killing long and the first few murders were small just to see if the Death Note was real," Near said shortly afterward.

Their attention turned to Near as he spoke. Considering that the news Kira was back had only recently come to light this was very shocking to them.

"That was fast." Matsuda was always the most talkative.

"It was quiet easy," the three of them said at once, though only Mello seemed to be angry about it. The other two were quiet unchanged by the similarities to what they just said at once.

"As Mello said, we would like to ask a favor... No... I would like to ask a favor. Will you support the Kira Investigation? By all means you do not have to join the task force. But if you want, I cannot deny that it would be helpful." L said while taking a drink of his usual overly sugared coffee.

There was a long silence as they all reflected on their own personal answers as well as waiting to see what Aizawa had to say about them convincing others to support the Kira investigation.

"I don't really see how we couldn't try and convince them to. The idea of letting a new Kira do as he pleases un-apposed..."

"I thought you would answer that way. I am offering an opening for any of you to join my task force. But I do not want you to join if you do not want to. I know you all know what you are getting yourself into now. I couldn't trust any one else other than those in this room right now. That is also me, not Near or Mello."

Another silence fell. After the first few seconds the others glanced toward Matsuda. In the old days he would have jumped up and shouted to the world that he was going to join L, but not now. However after another minuet of nobody speaking he still became the first person to give his answer.

"I'll join the Task Force."

"Are you sure about this, Matsuda?" Aizawa said. "I don't think I have to remind you about what you have to lose now."

"Yeah... I know." He took a deep breath. "A world Run by Kira isn't the kind of world I want my son growing up in." They had all seem plenty of families torn apart by a death note.

"I understand," Aizawa said then shortly afterward also agreed to be on the task force.

"I am not," Ide said. "I don't want Kira as much as you but I am done with this. For old friends sake, if you need my help, I'll think about it."

"I'll join too" Mogi decided. Though he wasn't sure if it was a very good idea. But sitting back and doing nothing didn't seem like a good idea either.

"So it is settled. I didn't think you would all answer so quickly," L said. "I respect your decision Ide. You are free to go whenever you wish."

Ide got up to leave. He glanced back to the room once before exciting. Hopefully things would go better this time than it had before and they would all stay alive. After he was gone there was another short silence.

"I do really think he is the wisest out of all of you."

"Probably." Mogi agreed.

All their attention was focused on L now. What was his plan this time? They wondered if he had anyone that he suspected yet. Probably not with how early it still was, but then again he was L.

"Task force will once again be stationed in the building you used before" Near said

"That is IF we are even called," Mello added in before Near could. It was obvious that the two of them were both on the same wave length.

"Don't worry we'll make sure they do." Now that the decision was already made Matsuda's normal enthusiasm came back in full.

Within an hour the meeting was dismissed. The ending nearly gave L a head ache and he was forced to bring it to a close. Now he knew, never bring up Matsuda's family. As the elevator opened on the main floor of the hotel a black figure walked out the door with his hood pulled up. It wasn't hard to pull him from the crowd but no one but the task force seemed to care. Mello gave them a small side glance before disappearing out the door.

"This is certainly going to be an interesting experience, working with those three." Mogi said after watching Mello walk out the door.

"No kidding," Matsuda replied.

Aizawa didn't comment and continued out the door.

"Should you really be giving him so much freedom?" Near asked looking out the window of the hotel watching as Mello disappeared into the crowd.

"I don't see a problem with it. Besides. Right now he's just another person on the street."

"He will be wanting to solve this case on his own."

"You are really that worried about him aren't you."

Near gave him a glare as his house of cards suddenly collapsed.

A door swung open. Smiling broadly a girl with long orange hair and blue eyes entered the small apartment. It was a VERY small apartment. There were only three rooms to it. The room that she was in now served as a living room on one side and a kitchen on the other. There was also a bedroom and a bathroom, both of which were small.

"I can't believe I'm finally moving in." She laughed and went to the window throwing it wide. The day out side was nice and to her the view of the streets below was beautiful. She turned and examined the walls. They were all perfectly white. This made her smile grow bigger. To her those walls were like a giant canvass just begging to be painted on. And she actually owned them! They were her walls and she could paint on them if she wanted to! For the most part the room was empty at the moment. She didn't have much furniture yet, just a bed and a few other things for a bed room. That was all she had had until recently, a bed room. There was a small pile of paintings stacked against one of the walls. She couldn't wait to get them up. She turned back to one of the white walls and held up her hands in a square, looking through them and trying to decide what she was going to paint first. She let out a happy sigh before dropping her hands and closing her eyes.

"I know what your going to say and you can save it. Nothing is going to ruin today, no matter what you do."

"You really think that?" a male's voice said.

"No I know that. " She said confidently. It was all a mind game after all. It was like facing down a bully. If you didn't let them know you were hurt they lost interest.

The Shinigami dropped from the ceiling in front of her just by a few inches. "I'll test that then."

"You don't have anyone to hold over me anymore. We're half way a crossed the country." She had moved as far away from her home just for that reason. She defiantly wasn't planning on getting close to anyone. or even really interacting if she could help it. Sure she would have to for work but she had to make a living somehow.

"I don't need to... What was the apartment owners name again... Hmmm I think it began with a B..."

She tried very hard to hide the emotion on her face. It was something she was getting very good at. She turned to face the Shinigami that had been pretty much her only companion for a long while now. She was sure that her eyes looked convincingly cold. Her plan was to try and get him believing that she had frozen her heart over to the fates of others. From what she had heard of the god of death's views on human beings it shouldn't be that hard to do. On the other hand he had also seen how strongly she had been effected by his killings in the beginning.

"No matter... I'll remember the name. And then what will happen? If it's a murder this whole place will be swarming with police and you are the only one that knows what happened."

"They wouldn't have any reason to connect me to the murder." She was grasping at straws. Though it was true the police would at least take her in for questioning. But she would have had nothing to do with it at all.

"Not even your fingerprints?"

"Why would they have my fingerprints to connect me to the murder if I don't do the murdering?" Her voice was exasperated.

"You think I can only kill people with heart attacks?" He started laughing.

" I defiantly know you can do more that. considering you have done it with in the past month. my question was how would there be finger prints connecting me to the murder."

"You don't think I can do it?" He laughed more.

Her eyes narrowed. "I never said that." Inside her head she cursed him. She didn't need this right after moving here. It was bad enough that she was practically in isolation but she couldn't even have a moments peace.

"I can find ways to blame you for everything."

she rolled her eyes and switched on the little TV. she had bought recently. Almost as soon as she turned it on to the one channel it got clearly she turned it off. Another report about Kira... "If you really want to see someone killing people with a notebook, why don't you go find Kira and follow him around. I'm sure that would entertain you enough."

"I would. If I could have my Death Note back."

"You don't need that one you've got one of your own." She reminded him for what must now be the millionth time. "I'm not giving it to you so that you can give it to someone who will kill people with it."

"Then I won't leave you alone. So the Apartment Manager. Got it," The Shinigami said laughing more.

"Fine then." She turned back around and headed toward the bathroom. She was going to take a shower and try not to think about what may or may not be happening to the apartment manager... Her eyes watered a little at the thought. He had seemed very nice.

She stayed in the shower for quite some time then dried and dressed before coming out. she felt a little bit better but not much. Even if the apartment manager was fine there were still the many others who's lives had been ended because this Shinigami wanted to torture her in to using the notebook she had found. She made her way in to the kitchen and found a box of instant ramen to make for herself.

"You were in there a while," The Shinigami laughed.

"I happen to like showers. Besides I have to get up early tomorrow to start work." She wouldn't look at him though. She was at the end of her rope for that day. Her happiness about her apartment had completely vanished. Well it had been good while it lasted.

"Haha, I see that I won and I didn't even have to kill anyone!" The Shinigami laughed more. "You humans are sooooo weird!"

" Just shut up for once." She put some water on to boil. She was Amaiha Kyandi and she didn't get to be happy. She had killed some one on accident with a death note and this was her punishment. If she didn't want anybody else to get a hold of that notebook she had to keep it form him and keeping it from him made him find his entertainment by tormenting her since she wouldn't kill people or give it back. It had been about a half a year since she had seen her family. She missed them so much. But if she went to visit them they would die. That she was sure of.

"What would be the fun in that since you don't use the Death Note?"

"What's the point of it since it's not going to get me to use the death note?" She answered with her own question. As she had thought many times. It was all just a mind game.

"What's the point? I have to find _some_ kind of entertainment. You are the only one that can see me."

"That's not my fault. Your the one who dropped it on my campus."

"I have no choice on where it falls. It just _happened_ to fall there, now I have to make the best of it till you give it up."

"Well I'm not going to give it up... How did you end up with two death notes anyway? That other one can't really be yours." The water was now boiling and she added the noodles.

He gave a cackle. "Wouldn't you like to know."

She gave a shrug. "It was just a question. After seeing as your here and oh so talkative..."

"It will be something for you to find out then."

"I guess so." she went on preparing her dinner. Hopefully soon she could afford more than ramen. She wasn't all that curious about the death note. She had her theories on why Cozen had two and frankly it didn't really matter. He wasn't going to get it back as long as she was alive.

"Heh, good luck."


	3. Decisions

It was a month before any one was inclined to even think about taking action against Kira. It was just as they had thought. Nobody wanted to appose Kira. Finally it got to the point were there at least had to be some discussion of if they should act. It was time to decide the world's fate. Would they just sit back and accept Kira as justice, or would they take action while there was still time to stop this?

"The killings have returned just as strongly as they were just a year ago," one of the committee members said. "It is true. Kira has indeed returned."

"We all already know that," another said. "The question is what do we do now?"

"We do nothing of course! We all will die apposing him!"

"You want to go with Kira because you value your life?"

"Do you want to die for apposing him?"

"Listen to them. How can they seriously even consider just backing out and doing nothing." Matsuda sighed.

"They only fear their own lives when we are going to be the ones out on a limb..." Aizawa replied.

" Yeah there's a lot of logic there." He said with slight sarcasm. "So how do we get their attention?"

"I don't know..." Aizawa twitched in annoyance. Misa was more manageable then these people

"He's only killing criminals. Besides we don't even know how he kills people."

"Sure it's only criminals now but that's not how it stayed the last time."

"What others did he kill huh?" a rather young man said.

"How about his own original spokesmen? police men that apposed him. You've already been yelling about how we'll die for going against Kira."

"What are you doing? Are you going with Kira because you fear him? What kind of new world is that?" Aizawa nearly yelled to the headset. The whole committee room grew quiet.

"Kira is just a murderer. Since when is it ok to sit back and let a murderer do what he wants to?" Matsuda added, quieter now that the room was silent, but no less determined that Aizawa.

The council remained silent for a few moments. "When has it been that a murderer can kill with only a name and a face?" someone asked without yelling.

" And the method of killing justifies it?" Someone questioned back. There was another outbreak of yelling.

"How can you catch someone like that?"

"Why don't you ask L himself?" a completely covered man said. From the front of the room he approached the middle of the committee room. Everyone knew for a fact that the one that stood before them wasn't the same one that would be there from years before. This one was a bit more scrawny in appearance though that didn't change how intimidating he looked. His voice also showed how his appearance was a little misleading.

"And what exactly is that going to do? If you hadn't noticed the killing is happening again." Some one sneered disbelievingly.

"That's because this is a new Kira. The last one has been dead for over a year."

There were hushed mummers throughout the room. Most didn't think that Kira had been gone that long.

"Then why wasn't any one informed of this!" Some one else called out slightly agitated.

"Because an uprising would have resulted."

None of them could really day anything to that. They all knew it was true. The silence settled in again as they all weighed their options.

"What do you have to lose?" Matsuda asked.

A few more minutes passed.

"We support having L investigate."

"We too support L..."

A few more people agreed but it seemed that there were quiet a few that didn't support it at all.

The muttering started up again and the volume steadily increased until they were shouting across the room at each other once again as conflicting opinions made themselves known. There were ever some people still in favor of letting Kira go about his merry way.

"This is getting no where..." Aizawa sighed angrily.

"I know" Matsuda answered. " You would think that there would be a little more support for L."

"They are all more worried about their own lives..."

"When they should be worried about every bodies lives."

A ringer then went off in the conference room, then another. Within seconds half of the member's cellphone's were going off. The first few answered their cell phones and the others just looked at their phone confused.

"Turn the screen onto Sakura TV!"

"Hurry!"

There was a near uproar before the screen flashed over to the station.

"Hello and good day viewers of Sakura TV. Six years ago all watched as Kira started to cleanse the world of evil. Then a year ago, the killings suddenly stopped with no reason. Many people have came forward claiming to be Kira or trying to be the new Kira, and all have failed. There had been no mass cleansing of criminals till earlier this month. Criminals suddenly started dying again. Kira has returned! Sakura TV has promised to show you all of the proceedings from Kira. Remember. At the end of this program we will show you a tape that we have received from Kira himself!" The news reporter then turned it to the crowd that was already gathering at the doors of Sakura TV.

"They sent a tape to Sakura T.V. already?" Then again it probably did make some sense considering the circumstances.

"This Kira is moving right along," L said watching the broadcast on a seperate screen while the live video of the meeting remained intact on the other.

"Quiet stupid if you ask me. Already we have evidence on who it is."

"Unless they are smart," Mello said.

"What makes you think that?"

"Quiet both of you," L said slightly annoyed.

"This might be to our advantage," Matsuda said.

"Might being the key word in that sentence unfortunately." replied Aizawa.

"How long have you been a supporter of Kira?" an interviewer said on the program.

"Since the beginning! The cleansing of criminals who can not support it?"

"Would you consider it to be murder?"

"They deserve to die. Some where already going to be killed on Death Row anyway."

"Are you worried that you or someone you love is going to be killed by Kira?"

"Me? Of course not! If one of my friends or family die... well... They would be no friend of mine."

"Th-that's my daughter..." one of the men said. "She says that about Kira?"

There was yet another outbreak of murmuring as the others started to speculate and fear if their families felt this way as well.

"They're getting worried now. Maybe It will make them do something." Matsuda said hopefully.

An hour of interviews passed. By then half of the committee members thought it was just a fake broadcast that was just to drive up the viewers. But Sakura TV was notorious for catching the eye of Kira. Then the news reporter came back onto the screen. "I bring you all, Kira."

The screen flashed on a new old english font used by the new Kira. "I... am Kira..." the multi-layered voice said shortly after the message came on. "I thank you Sakura TV for playing this message. I appreciate that you are so dedicated to the new world that Kira will usher in.

I am indeed the one that has been cleansing the world of criminals. I do have the same gift as the Kira before. I am, also, not the same Kira.

I want to tell you all that I will only kill those that deserve to die. I will not kill the innocent, I will not kill those that do not think the same as me. However, if I am threatened, I will do what I must to protect myself, but nothing more. Saying this, I cannot give you 100% proof that I am Kira. I will not kill an innocent life to prove this.

I am hear for the people of the World. I will make the world a better place. Those that do no evil shall live on and bring forth the new world.

The new world without theft and vandalism;

The new world without rape and abuse;

The new world without torture and corruption;

The new world without murder;

Thank you."

The screen turned white. A few moments later the tape was taken off.

There was a complete silence that was then followed by the return of the muttering. This certainly confirmed that the original Kira was gone now since this was a new one. Though that hardly meant that there weren't still questions floating around in everyone's heads. It was obvious that most of them were afraid and that could be either good or bad. Either their fear would lead them to support L or to let Kira run the show, hopefully the first one.

"Do you think we went to far?" the college girl said watching the crowd react to the message with the up most cheer. "We kind of assumed some parts of Kira... Now we might be killed."

"We are fine," the quiet girl said with a small smile. "Kira couldn't kill us anyway. We are not criminals and we did nothing to disrespect his name... We just gave him a voice."

"We have to investigate Kira," an older member of the committee said. "L captured the last Kira just as he said. Kira even proved that himself. He can do it again."

"But why? The crime rates would just go up again!"

"Because! This is false salvation! The crime rates returning when Kira is gone just proves that!"

That brought the committee into a buzz of conversation. The murmuring was in the favor of the speaker.

"Why didn't he say this before..." Aizawa grumbled.

"I say we ask for L's assistance with the case!"

Slowly more and more committee members were accepting this. But a few did not and said that they were asking for a death wish. Because of this some of them also left.

"Will L take the case?"

"You will have to ask him yourself," Rodger said coming to the middle of the room. He placed the laptop on the desk and pulled up the lid.

"Good Evening to you all. While I am disappointed that it took you this long to come to this decision I will not take this on lightly. As you are unsure whether Kira is justice or not I am quiet clear. Kira is a murderer, nothing more, nothing less. He is not invincible either. I have defeated and brought to justice,"

"Figuratively," Mello muttered behind him.

"And technically it was me..." Near said shortly afterwards.

"One Kira. I can do so again! This time I have more to go off of from the beginning. And I will prove this to you. Already we know that Kira is in Japan, undoubtedly all of you have witnessed that. This does not mean that this Kira couldn't just be using Japan as a fake headquarters using the old Kira's views to lead to false investigation. However, I strongly believe that Kira is in Japan. Also, I have reasons to believe that the tape you have just witnessed is a fake."

The ICPO quickly started talking amongst themselves.

"Silence. I will explain to you these reasons I have: 1. This Kira never proved himself and only used the name Kira as credibility, this is the main reason; 2. The information given was information that everyone already knew. 3. This fake tape clearly is done by an armature that doesn't know the full power of the police force and does not consider it as a threat as the first Kira who knew the threat and took care of it.

"Saying this I will still look into if this tape could be from the real Kira or not and who sent the tape. That is, if I have the full support form the ICPO."

"I'm amazed that they only gave L a year to make a significant progress to keep with the investigation. Don't they know it took us 6 years to finally pin down that Light was Kira."

"Matsuda, don't speak like that. We are still in public."

"Right sir. But still... A year?"

"We know much more about the case then we did before. All we need is a lead to who it is."

_**Kinne340: Hello! Here is the next chapter. I hope it is enjoyable and that you liked it a lot. Please tell me what you think but be nice! Next chapter should get on with the story a little more yay!**_


	4. Let the Investigation Begin

Amaiha yawned slightly as she got ready for work. It was her first day and a good impression was important so she intended to be there promptly. This job was important and she needed to keep it. If she lost her job, moving back home was not an option. She had decided that as soon as she had come to understand her situation. After she had found the notebook... If she had just left well enough alone her life would have been fine. But no, she had picked up a random notebook laying on the ground and read what was inside of it trying to figure out who had dropped it.

The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die. At first she thought it was just a joke. What else would anyone think when they say that. Just because she was stressed out Amaiha had scrawled someone's name in the notebook. The next day she had found out from her parents that the person had died of a heart attack. She had panicked of course. What else would you do? The person that you for one moment hated enough to write their name down with the intention of death had actually died, never mind the fact that she hadn't thought it would actually happen.

Then he had showed up, Cozen, a Shinigami. It explained a great deal. It even explained the mystery of Kira though she really could have cared less about that particular subject. Cozen had been less than thrilled that she was the one to pick up the notebook. She wasn't going to kill people with it, in fact she had hid it so that nobody else could kill with it as well. The fact that she had hidden it was pretty much the only thing that had kept the Shinigami from killing her and taking the notebook to someone who would actually entertain him. So his strategy was now to kill anyone she was close to in order to force her to give up the notebook. Therefore she couldn't go home... probably for the rest of her life, however long it ended up being.

She pulled her long orange hair in to a pony tail to keep it out of her face. The shirt she was wearing was new, clean, and white. Most of her other white shirts were all covered in paint so she had had to go buy a new one. Assessing her self in the mirror Amaiha deemed herself ready and left the cover of her bedroom. She saw cozen but completely ignored him. She didn't feel like talking with him at that moment. she simply grabbed her bag from beside the door and headed out of it, locking up behind herself.

"Are you ignoring me now that you have a job?" he asked. "You know that isn't a smart idea."

She looked around trying to quickly see if anyone was around. "We're on the street. Soon I'll be passing people. I can't be talking to thin air it'll leave the impression that I'm crazy and I don't need people thinking I'm crazy. "

"I already think you are crazy so it doesn't really matter."

"Yes it does. It matters a lot and you should know that." Her talking to thin air would aid him. His new plan seemed to be to frame her... if she didn't look sane that would be easy.

"You know what happens when you bore me."

"I can't just talk to the air." She said again but more firmly this time.

"Then I'll touch everyone on the street with the Death Note. That would be fun."

"So what happens if your plan succeeds and I get sent to jail? It can't be fun watching someone in prison. I won't give up ownership of it just because I get arrested." She switched tactics trying to ignore his threat.

"Then I'll just write your name in my Death Note. I have eternity to find yours."

"Why don't you just do that now then?" She wasn't sure if he was bluffing or not. But if he was she was calling him on it.

"Because that takes time. And you aren't in jail so I still have some time to have _some_ fun."

She rolled her eyes trying not to let on to how unsettled she was. "Well we're almost there so it's only going to be for a bout three blocks now. " As they had been talking she had taken the alley ways so as to avoid seeing other people.

"You are boring... Maybe I should kill the employer..."

"If you did that I wouldn't have a job and then I would be out on the street. I doubt that would be very interesting. And Then I would be able to talk to you less because there would be no house to talk to you in private in." She was stretching it a bit but oh well.

"Hobos talk to themselves all the time."

A thought struck. "I wouldn't be able to get you food to try."

"You could work out something."

"If I can get food while I live on the streets I'll be feeding myself. You don't need to eat to live."

"You don't want to see me off of Human food... Trust me..."

"Not dieing of starvation is more important that what I wouldn't want to see." She gave a small smile.

"I suppose you're right there. You don't want to see me off Human Food..." he repeated though he didn't give a reason why.

"And why is that?" He talked like someone saying that you didn't want to see them when they tried to quit smoking.

"It's like a drug to me," he admitted almost sounding embarrassed, "I have withdrawal symptoms even."

She laughed. "How bad can it be? I mean really so you'll get really grouchy or something?"

"I wouldn't be worried if it was that easy."

"What do you mean?" she was actually curious now.

"You don't want to know."

"If you say so." She fell silent as they entered an area with people and shortly after that walked in to the shop she now worked in.

"Today's going to be boring..." he groaned as he let someone walk through him.

It was a very uneventful day. She was taught everything that she would need to know basically and watched other people work. It was the most interesting day that she had had in a while. She had mostly been staying away from people so interacting with coworkers and customers was fun. She did want to get home and get back to painting her wall though. Whenever there was a lull in the day she would daydream about it. She was just so happy to have a home, even if she was sharing it with a Shinigami. So after work she was still in a very cheerful mood.

"I was good right?" Cozen asked as soon as she was more or less alone.

"Supriseingly so." She agreed with a cheerful voice. "Think you can manage to be quiet through a trip to the grocery store? I'll pick up something new for you." She hoped that the thought of a new food to try would entertain him enough to not kill anybody.

"More silence?" he half whined.

"Well I don't want to get kicked out of the store. But if its to much we can just go straight home. I still have some instant ramen." Amaiha smiled automatically at the word home. It really had a nice ring to it.

"I'll be quiet!" he said instantly after she was done talking.

She laughed and sped up, practically running to the store. She was acting more like a giddy teenager than a happy 23 year old. when they got there she picked up enough to make a dinner for herself and an interesting flavor of chips for Cozen to try. She paid and then it was time to head home.

"So what did you get me?"

"You'll see." The orange haired girl started to climb the stairs. Her apartment was on the fourth floor.

"I already saw," Cozen reminded.

"Then why are you asking?" She teased. The fourth floor was reached, apartment 412. The key of course had sunk to the bottom of her bag and she had to dig for it.

"Because finally I can," he said though that wasn't the reason really at all. It was a factor on it though.

"Ha! Found it." She pulled the key out and unlocked the door. The first place she headed was to the kitchen. She was starving. "Here." The chips came out of the bag and were thrown at Cozen.

He gave a pleased noise and quickly caught the bag. The Shinigami sat in the air cross legged curved over the bag of potato chips and started nibbling on a chip.

Another laugh came from her as she watched. "Your strange." She started getting her own dinner ready. It was the first non ramen meal she'd had in a while.

"What are you cooking?" he asked between nibbles.

"I'm making curry." She answered simply. She was smiling slightly still.

"Curry? That doesn't sound very appetizing."

"I think its delicious. So it doesn't matter if you think it sounds good." She continued to cheerily prepared her food. It was the first non instant meal in so long.

"Your right. I'm fine with the _instant_ food anyway."

"Just eat your chips." She gave an eye roll and looked to see how far he was on the bag.

"I will," he said taking another chip from the bag. This was about his third chip out of the whole bag. The shinigami was nibbling on each chip very slowly.

She started laughing. He just looked so ridiculously funny and almost cute in a way, a very weird way considering he wasn't exactly cute.

"What's so funny?" he asked between a series of nibbles.

"Oddly enough you are." She finished laughing and focused on the food. it wasn't long until it was done. She ate it happily and then straight to painting. Happily she hopped up on the little ladder and started were she had left off the night before. She just kept painting and painting and painting.

Hours later she had a pretty good chunk done and jumped off the ladder. "I think it's time for a break." Amaiha yawned and stretched out before flopping down on her couch. She was sprawled out on it her arms above her head one of her legs hanging off the side. Her eyes closed to rest. and even though she hadn't meant to, within a matter of seconds she was sleeping.

"Hey Amaiha, what are you doing painting on the walls again?" he asked after a few minutes. "Amaiha?"

her only answer was to roll over and topple off the couch but some how remain fast asleep.

He gave a little chuckle before pulling the blanket off the couch and dropped it over her. "Silly human."

After they had finally gotten the support they needed for the investigation, it didn't take long for headquarters to be reset up.

"Never thought we end up back in here..."

"It has been over five years since Light said to shut down the place..." Matsuda said looking at the screens of the main room that they used as investigation. It was still hard to see Light as the enemy from the very beginning. In the end they all knew what happened but Matsuda refused to relate it to the whole investigation.

"Everything seems to be in working order," Rodger said over an intercom. He appeared on one of the screens. "I will be copying information from the House to here in a few moments. It might take a while. The information will include Near and the Japanese Task Force information."

"You will need to find the fallacies in the information as well," Mello said from the back of the group.

"I'll get right on that, Mello," Near said.

"Because you don't have anything better to do..."

"So is there anything that we need to do L?" Matsuda asked.

"Actually... there is one thing that I need someone to do," L said turning back to the group.

"What's that?" Matsuda asked sounding eager to help.

"Could one of you get the tapes from Sakura TV. And any packaging involved?"

There was silence. The task force all looked at each other. IT was hard to forget the last time tapes needed retrieving from Sakura TV. One of them had died before because of it...

"I'll do it." Mello said sounding exasperated and impatient.

"Alright," L said happily. "The rest of you... You can clean these 65 floors."

There were groans but no complaints. After all there wasn't much else they could do and it needed to be done. They couldn't very well use dust filled things. So they all set off less than enthusiastically.

Meanwhile Mello set off for the TV station. If he didn't do it nobody would and in a way he couldn't blame them. He doubted that anyone approaching the station would die though. They weren't trying to stop the broadcast that had taken place after all. He walked right in the front doors and not Surprisingly, didn't die.

"Good day sir," the woman at the front desk asked. "We are currently not taking visitors or interviews for our upcoming show for Kira if that is what you have come to ask. But if there is anything I can help you with I would be the one to ask. Or are you here for an appointment?"

"I need to see whoever has the tapes from Kira." He said confidently while pulling out identification that had better get him in.

"I see. You know you cannot confiscate the tapes without a warrant, sir. But I will see if the director is taking visitors. One moment, sir." She dialed a number on the phone and started talking to someone. "This one is real, sir," was a notable thing she said looking at the badge. After hanging up she turned back to Mello. "The director is able to see you. But I must warn you we do not have to give you the tapes."

Mello glared at her and went to go see the director. This was going to be a pain...

"Ha! Give you the tapes? Yeah right. They aren't even the originals anyway, so I wouldn't know why you would want them," the director said.

"What do you mean they aren't the originals." Mello's face was dangerous now.

The director gave a nervous laugh. "We are friends with Kira his safety is the world's safety. It wasn't breaking any laws for us to destroy the tapes and packaging."

He swore violently as many things he could say to this man ran through his head all at once.

_He's still very scary for a human_. The white bandaged shinigami then fell from the ceiling and behind the director. "Hi Mello," the nasally voice of Sidoh said.

"Look pal," the director said even though he was clearly unnerved by the blond man in front of him. "Sakura TV didn't break any laws and has no reason to release the tapes to you. If you don't leave now I'll be forced to call security."

"I'm leavening." He stood with another glare and muttering a couple more choice words. After walking out the door he picked up his cell phone. "Hello?"

"Huh? You're phone-thing didn't even ring..." The shinigami looked closer. "Or is even on... Oh! Your talking to me aren't you! That's original. So you are looking for Kira too?"

"Yes." He answered. It was convenient at the moment that nobody else could hear or see the Shinigami. "So it's yours?" He asked, it was probably Sidoh's death note that Kira was using if he was here.

He gave a nervous laugh. "I assume so. I only had my Death Note for a few days before someone stole it again!" Sidoh went from being nervous to being angry in nothing flat. Not that the nasally shinigami could look very angry in the first place. "I want my notebook!"

Mello sighed the Shinigami couldn't even keep a hold of his own notebook. "Yeah well we don't exactly know where it is." It was his way of asking Sidoh what the heck he was doing here with Mello when he obviously didn't have the notebook.

"I figured as much. That is always how it is. I was trying to find my own clues onto how to find who has it. It was just luck I found a human that could still see me! I must have _some_ luck."

"Great..." Though he sounded less than enthusiastic about it. After all Sidoh didn't know where the note book was.

"If you help me find my notebook... I'll get you those tapes that you are looking for."

Now that caught Mello's attention. "Sounds like a fair deal."

"You have to promise to help me!"

"Ok. I promise..." After all they were looking for Kira and Kira had his note book. There should be no problem there the sooner the notebook was out of their world the better.

"Good, then I'll get your tapes. I saw where that director guy put it. He was trying to be sneaky too." Sidoh snickered and disappeared back into the room. He put the tape under his wing to hide it from the view of humans and cameras before walking back to Mello. "Got it."

"Good." Mello started walking now with the phone still to his ear so that the shinigami would follow him out, so he could take the tapes.

"I heard them say that the Director received the package personally on his way to work the day of the broadcast. He couldn't tell if it was a male or female but he was disguised so that he couldn't trace him at all."

"Of course." He muttered angrily. He hated these people. Mello continued on his way out.

"He had darker skin though... Or he thought anyway. Not that that helps you any."

Mello muttered angrily to himself for a moment. "Just hold on to them for a little bit." He ordered and closed the phone. If he really needed to talk to the shinigami he could always open it again. He then started to walk back to headquarters.

"Alright..." Sidoh said and followed Mello back to the head quarters. "Oh what happened to the last Kira?"

They were inside before Mello answered. "He's dead." Was all the explanation he gave before going in search of L to give him the copies of the tapes.

"Dead? Oh so you found out that it was Light Yagami then?"

"..." He didn't answer. It figured of course Sidoh had known. He stalked in to the room that L was most likely in still looking ticked.

"Misa also didn't have a lifespan... So she had a Death Note too."

He threw the tapes on a table in front of L. "Sakura TV got rid of the originals and the packaging."

L looked down at the tapes then up at Mello. "You're in a bad mood..."

The blond gave very apparent twitch. "That's an understatement."

"Was it that bad? At least you got the tapes."

"So Sakura TV destroyed the originals. Was that their idea or Kira's?" Near added in.

"It sounded like it was their bright idea." He was still looking very annoyed and angry .

"I agree." L said thinking on the matter himself.

Sidoh walked to the side of L and looked at his face. "He looks rather good for a dead guy."

Mello twitched again. How much of the whole story did Sidoh know? He was starring at the Shinigami right over L's shoulder trying to figure out the answer to that very question.

"He did _die_ right?" The Shinigami questioned.

"No." Mello answered forgetting that he had yet to tell L and Near that Sidoh was there.

"What?" L and Near said at once.

"Oh right... They can't hear me or see..."

"Right..." What a pain. He was the only one that could see the Shinigami. "There's a Shinigami here."

"What?" L said instantly sent into a temporary moment of shock. His heart skipped a beat which made him panic even more in the end.

"Apparently the Notebook Kira has is Sidoh's... again." He couldn't help but let his frustration with the Shinigami's inability to keep a hold of his death note show once again.

"It's not my fault!" Sidoh complained.

"Oh..." L said with a sigh of relief.

It didn't take long for the essential floors to be clean enough to use. Luckily they didn't need to clean every floor or it would have taken them more time than they had. After that it was time to get to work. The data had all been downloaded and checked over for any flaws between the investigation teams.

"Now all we need is a lead," Aizawa said. "And that tape didn't get us anywhere."

"We can't rule it out," L said still pouring over the evidence despite being a few days since they got it. "However improbable it is to be from a real Kira, it has a possibility. But there is no evidence from where the tape came from."

"L, I have finished the voice analysis you requested," Rodger said from his room. "I'll send you the results."

The dissected voice layers came up on the screen. "The voice for Kira is a girl," L said as he looked at the statistics of each of the layers.

"Couldn't the voice have just been changed to a girl's voice?" Asked Matsuda.

"It's not just the sound of the voice," L said with his thumb pulling at his lip. "All the mannerisms are feminine. I suspected this when I listened to the tape, but I wanted to be sure. I'm not sure if the voice of Kira wanted this to be apparent or not."

They all thought about the tape for a moment trying to figure out if they could tell the voice as female just from the way it spoke. As expected, they couldn't.

"Then that leaves us with no lead," Mello said.

"Because we are skeptical if this is a fake or not the voice may not even be of Kira. Kira could still be either a male or a female," Near said following up.

"What we should be looking at the past murders and if there is a pattern."

"Then we can find a better location of where Kira is and then try to flesh him or her out."

The next statistics that they pulled up were of a wide variety of deaths. They paid special attention to any weird accidents, unlikely suicides and made sure to dig thoroughly in to the medical history of all victims of heart attacks.

"Hey Matsuda..." a tired Aizawa said while yawning. "Am I tired or does this murder look out of place..."

"What murder?" Matsuda came over to where Aizawa was to take a look.

"You're sure chipper..." Aizawa complained before holding up the sheet of paper. "This one. I don't see anything criminal about it..."

"That's weird." Matsuda took the paper to take a closer look. "Maybe it was actually just a freak accident..." He didn't really sound like he believed it though. It could have been but...

"It seems a little too... obvious to be a freak accident..."

"Yeah... But It really doesn't look like this kid did anything that could be considered criminal. He was just a university student..." Of course that fact wasn't what stopped the victim from having been a criminal. But there was nothing in the report at all about ever even being taken in to the police station from stupid things that teenagers did sometimes.

"That was the sixth one then..." Aizawa said putting the death case down into a pile with the other suspicious death cases.

Matsuda sighed and went to get to work too.

"I found another one," Mogi said putting another case down onto the accidental death pile. He looked just as tired as Aizawa.

"I wonder how they do it..." Aizawa said looking over at the three great detectives. Just one of them had turned out twice as many as the other detectives. And L turned out nearly three times that. None of them looked tired and were still going on.

"I have no idea. It's almost creepy though." Matsuda held a stack of papers now.

"It's like they are not human..." Mogi added.

"Good thing They're on our side."

Mello then cast a look at them.

The conversation stopped as they focused back on the murder cases. "Is it just me or did a lot of these weird accidents all take place at the same university?" One of them asked after a while.

"It's just in your head..." Aizawa said.

"Yeah I guess so sorry."

"Wait. What did you say?" L said turning around in his chair to the table that the investigators were working at.

"That a lot of the accidental deaths happened at the same school?" Matsuda sounded a little bewildered at having to repeat the theory that was just thrown aside.

"Let me see them."

They went through the pile and found all the ones that had happened at the school Matsuda had been talking about. There actually was a large amount of them considering how big the pile was.

L flipped through the cases and sorted them his own little way. "Mello. Bring the cases about the other schools here."

Mello found the other cases that happened to school age kids and brought them over to L.

L flipped through the murder cases. "It could be that Kira just entered the university..."

"You think the incidents at the high school an the university are connected?" one of them asked.

"I am... 5% sure that they are..."

The last thing they had heard him being 5% sure of was that Light was Kira. And that had turned out to be correct. So in their minds it was now very likely that the two were connected. They went back to work but took special care to put any new ones at either of those schools in to the pile.

"It seems that other schools were affected too," Mogi said. "Though not as much."

"Not even nearly as much."

"This just proves that Kira is a student," Matsuda said.

" Not necessarily." Mello replied. He was re looking through the reports in the two piles.

"Mello is right... As I said. There is a 5% chance... And I do not think it is correct..."

"The reports don't match up..." there were papers in a row in front of Mello.

"What do you mean?" Near asked coming up to join the discussion.

"All of the incidents in the high school, the victims were teenage thugs, or bullies. At the university though, none of them have so much as a bad comment on any records."

"Great deductions, Mello," Near said though whether he meant it well or not was another matter. "But that leads us back to nothing."

"At least it keeps us from chasing false leads." Was the retort.

There were so many reports to sort through. They still didn't know how L, Mello, and Near did so much work. They never seemed to sleep where as the others in comparison seemed to need sleep almost all the time. Though, that was probably because of how little sleep they were getting at all.

The only one of them that seemed to ever come in cheerful was Matsuda and he spent the least time in head quarters. This was something that everyone was grateful for. Even though he still never stopped talking about his family, at least he came back with new stories instead of continuously repeating the old ones.

"Hey!" Matsuda came running in to head quarters. He was holding a page out of a news paper that was partially crumpled up and looked like he had gotten dressed in a hurry in order to run all the way to headquarters. He spread the paper down on a table. "Look!."

Near didn't even bother to look up from his work as Mello did only to look annoyed before going back to what he was doing. L didn't find much more interest then Mello. The task force however took the needed break. "What is it?" one asked just as dead if not more dead then the previous days.

"The picture. Look at the picture."

"It's a group of college kids..." Aizawa said thoroughly annoyed. "Wait..."

"All the victims from the university are in this picture." Matsuda finished.

"Media always talk about the dead," Mello said not really listening to what they were talking about.

L stood and walked over to the paper. "One of these students is still alive..."

"They are? That took Matsuda by surprise he hadn't caught that and he had been sure that he had counted it out right.

"More like, she is." He pointed to the girl. "Amaiha Kyandi," L read off of the citation. "Now, is she the next victim or..."

"You think she could be Kira?"

"It's a possibility... But..."

"But what?" Everyone was paying attention now.

"It seems to obvious. Why would Kira kill all those closest to her..."

None of them had an answer to that. True it was hard to see anyone slaughtering all of their friends. But then again there were some pretty odd people in the world. Though if she was Kira killing them was off form. They weren't criminals.

"Matsu-" L froze up suddenly.

Mello gave a groan just moments before and held up the rest of his chocolate bar. The bar lifted from his hand and the invisible Shinigami started nibbling on the rest of it.

All of them stared. It was one thing to have seen a Shinigami munching on apples when they could see the Shinigami. It was an entirely different one to see chocolate floating in the air and disappearing slowly. It was very unnerving.

"Mello, are you trying to kill L?" Near asked as L stared at the chocolate bar in terror. Never did he like shinigami, now he had this near irrational fear that they were all out to kill him, despite knowing that if they wanted to they would have done it by now.

Mello shot a glare at Near but other than that did nothing.

"Hey, L... are you ok?" Matsuda said. The task force found L's sudden stillness more frightening then a floating bar of chocolate.

"I'm fine..." he said a few moments later looking away from the floating chocolate bar.

"oh... Good." They relaxed a little but were still rather unsettled by it.

"What was I saying...?"

"He really is scared of Shinigami now," Sidoh said.

Mello didn't answer.

"Something to Matsuda." Aizawa answered L's question.

"Ah yes... I was going to say Matsuda find out more about this girl and maybe take Mello with you..." It was a desperate attempt at getting the Shinigami out of headquarters at a moment but worth a try.

"Right." Matsuda agreed cheerfully even though it meant working with Mello. He was happy to be helpful.

Mello was already halfway out the door. Finally he could get away from the paper work and do something. Matsuda hurried after him.

"Thanks for the chocolate..." Sidoh said almost randomly as he followed Mello out with his chocolate bar.

"Sure..." He was outside the building before Matsuda had even gotten a chance to catch up.

"So uh, you know where the school is?" Matsuda asked.

"Generally." There was always a down side. He was out of headquarters but he was stuck with one of them...

"Alright, you want to drive then...?" Matsuda then realized that he didn't know exactly what Mello drove. A gut feeling told him it was a motorcycle and he wasn't going to ride with him on that.

"No."

"I can drive then."

The ride was very awkward and uncomfortable for both of them and it seemed to take longer than it should have to reach the school.

"So, uh," Matsuda asked when they parked. "We ready?"

Mello was already out of the car and walking toward the school.

The young police officer gave a heavy sigh. "It's part of the job..." He quickly got out of the car and caught up to Mello. "You want to do the talking...?"

They walked around gathering all the information they could. There wasn't anything to overly important as far as they could find.

"That wasn't hard was it," Matsuda said as they walked. He kind of figured that he wouldn't answer but when he turned to find him, he wasn't there. "Mello?"

"Are you sure you can just ditch him?" Sidoh asked.

"L only wanted to get you out of head quarters he can handle this by himself." Mello was walking briskly away.

Sidoh sighed. "Whatever it takes to get my notebook back."

Matsuda finished trying to find information and headed back to headquarters. There wasn't much he could do to find Mello. "How are things going here?"

"No different sadly," Aizawa said. It was now only him, Near, and L left in the room. Rodger walked in shortly afterwards giving Aizawa a cup of strong black coffee.

"Welcome Back, Matsuda. Can I get you something?" Rodger asked.

"No thanks." Matsuda answered. "Oh umm... I lost Mello..."

"More like he lost you," Near stated.

"Yeah..." Matsuda sighed.

"It is not a concern right now," L said. "Aizawa, are you sure you don't want to take a break?"

"I am sure," Aizawa said sipping his coffee.

"We didn't really find anything useful out." Matsuda however gave L a stack of papers that contained all the information they had found, just incase.

"I want someone to find out where she is now anyway," L said flipping through the papers.

**_Kinne340: Hello! I hope that this chapter was fun to read. It's a bit logner than the others. But at least the story has started moveing a bit more. Please review and tell me what you think. _**


	5. That was easy?

Amaiha sighed as she opened the door to her apartment. It had been a long day and all she wanted to do was flop down on the couch and rest for a while, maybe do a little more work on her walls. She wasn't feeling very well, but loved the painting so much. She was on Ramen for food again though she wasn't hungry. She dropped her bag by the door as it swung closed and continued to the kitchen were she half heartedly started making herself some food.

"You don't do anything exciting anymore..." Cozen groaned. The first few weeks were fun enough but now it was the same routine over and over again. He didn't have to say much about what happens when he gets bored.

"Not today." She said slightly. She didn't want to deal with it today. Amaiha left her water to boil and dug out a new flavor of potato chips that she had bought incase of something like this. She figured it was in her best interest to keep him in interesting human food.

The gloom around the Shinigami suddenly lifted. "Potato chips?"

"Yes, Sour cream and onion flavored." She gave him the bag and shivered suddenly. "It's cold in here."

He gave off a pleased vibe as he took the chips and started sitting cross-legged in the air nibbling on the chips. "It's fine to me."

"Of course it's fine to you." She went back and added the noodles to the water. She was going to need extra blankets. "I didn't think it was going to get so cold so fast. I'll need to unpack my coat." The orange haired girl shivered again. "So are they good?"

"Best ones yet!" he said happily still not finished with the first chip.

"Good." It was a few more minuets before her food was ready and when it was she picked at it and shivered some more. She whished her little table was a kotatsu, and then maybe she wouldn't be so cold. Sadly she looked at her walls and realized that she didn't have the energy to paint at all.

"You still are getting boring..." Cozen was off his going to kill someone stunt though. Now it seemed he was just warning her.

She shivered again and sniffed slightly. There wasn't much she could do to fix his boredom at the moment. She got up and disposed of her half eaten dinner, not being able to finish it. "There isn't much I can do. I have to work to make money, I need money to buy food for both of us and pay the rent, and the bills." There was so much to pay for it. Her parents had been helping her pay for university but when she dropped out that stopped.

"They probably hate me." She muttered.

"What?" Cozen asked turning more of his attention to her then on his potato chip.

"For dropping out of university, my parents probably hate me." There was no point in hiding these thoughts from him so she might as well just say it.

"Don't blame me for it," Cozen said a little detached.

"I wasn't, it was my decision."

"Good. But it's more interesting here then at that college."

"That's good." She coughed a few times. Was she coming down with a cold? "Not good..."

"What's wrong?"

"I must be coming down with a cold." She almost whined. If she was too sick to go to work there were major problems.

"What's the big deal?"

"If I get sick enough that I can't go to work." She was really starting to worry about it now.

"And your point?"

"No work, no money, no food, no apartment." She coughed suddenly again.

"You humans stay sick for what... a week? That's not going to kill you. That is, unless I wrote your name in my death note. You know I could cause death by a fatal illness."

"You would have to make the effort to find the note book then." She leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes.

"I have time to find it..."

Amaiha coughed again and gave a little groan. "I'm going to bed."

"Just ignore me and see how long you live," he said trying to make some humor out of the situation.

"Yeah, I'll be freaked out by it tomorrow." she groaned again and coughed a few more times.

"You're no fun..." Cozen said before going back to nibbling on his chips. At least one bag of chips lasted him hours, sometimes even an entire day.

It turned out Amaiha did have a cold. She spent the next few days miserable in bed. Sneezing, coughing, and talking to a shinigami... what a wonderful time. She was ecstatic when she was finally well enough to go back to work.

"That was a nice day." Amaiha stretched out happily on her way home from work.

"I'm bored," Cozen grumbled.

"Well we're going to the store." She whispered. She knew that would make him happy.

Cozen looked a little pleased but then jumped into the air. His robes lifted till two pieces were separate from the rest for a pair of wings. He lifted into the air with a few flaps.

Amaiha looked at him for a moment before shrugging off the newness. She didn't know he had wings. But not much about him surprised her. After all he was a Shinigami. So it was off to the grocery store and she bought a few new bags a chips and food for herself as well.

It wasn't till she left the grocery store that he landed again next to her. The people, as always, passed through him with no notice. "You left your keys at work."

"No I have my keys." she said a little crossly. She had just bought him three new bags of chips and he was trying to play a prank on her.

"I know you did," he said.

"I didn't..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I'll prove it." Amaiha opened her bag and started digging for her keys. Why did they always sink to the bottom?

Cozen smiled and pulled his Death Note out from its holster. He flipped it open and started writing in it. Now things were going to get interesting. Forty more seconds.

"Ha I got them." She pulled the keys out with a look of triumph on her face.

30 seconds

20 seconds

Cozen gave her a big grin still with his Death Note out. A few moments after she looked at him he started to put it away.

10 seconds

5 seconds

4...3...2...1...

A young man in the crowded street suddenly dropped to the ground before Amaiha.

Her eyes went wide in shock as she stopped dead. "What was that for?" She whispered with watering eyes.

"No reason..." he said after looking over his shoulder.

"I... I can't believe it..." A tourist said from twenty feet behind her. He pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed a number.

"A report, Mr. Dodelig?" A synthesized voice asked, the voice that his agents know as Near.

"Yeah... She's Kira..."

"Why do you say this?"

"A man just dropped dead 48 seconds after she reached into her purse. It is not just coincidence."

"Alright. Backup will be with you shortly. Keep an eye on her and be sure you are not seen!"

"Yes, sir."

Amaiha rushed home. She was so angry that she didn't even bother talking to Cozen. The chips were going to go straight in to the trash. After that she was going to skip her own dinner and go straight to painting. She had missed it these past couple of days.

"There was a reason," he said once they were close to her apartment.

"I don't care." Whatever his reason was it was completely uncalled for and there was no reason when she had just gotten better and bought him chips. He didn't even give her a warning!

The orange haired girl continued to fume and fumbled with her keys for a moment as she unlocked the door then closed it in his face as she walked in. He would be able to get in any way.

"You were being followed," Cozen said still grinning as he walked through her door. This was worth loosing chips.

"What?" She looked back at him confused.

"You were being followed all day today. It was starting to get on my nerves... So I gave him a reason to be following you."

"That makes no sense!" She threw the bag on counter and started to take get her painting supplies out. She ignored whatever he said for the next two hours. Eventually it was time to stop for the moment. There was paint smudged on her face, shirt, and arms. She went back to her bag and dumped it out on the counter.

"Huh?... no! My phone! I must have left it at the store!" Amaiha rushed to the door and started shoving her feet in to her shoes. Without putting her coat on she rushed out of the door and ran all the way to the store. Thankfully it was open and they had her phone behind the counter. She thanked them happily out of breath and started the trek home. Now that she was tired all she wanted was to get home so she decided to take a few short cuts.

"You made it easy..." Cozen said.

"She's moving down 5th Street," Dodelig said into the transmitter that he now wore.

"Understood," said Near still using the synthesized voice. "Move in and make it quick."

"Yes, sir."

A black van turned into the ally that Amaiha had just taken. Carefully the large vehicle passed the girl then came to a stop.

"Be careful and keep your face hidden at all times!" Near called out as a reminder. The warning was not answered to as the doors of the van opened and completely covered agents made a move toward Amaiha.

To tell the truth Amaiha had completely forgotten that Cozen had said she was being followed. The black van that pulled in front of her made her slightly nervous so she had decided that taking the shortcut might not be a good idea. She had just decided to turn around and go the long way home when people came at her out of the van. She squeaked in surprise and backed up quickly before she was able turn around to try a run away properly. She would have screamed but her voice was gone at the moment.

"Freeze, Amaiha Kyandi" another masked agent said. He stood in her path with a gun drawn.

She stopped dead as her brain went fuzzy in panic what was she supposed to do? Her phone started to ring. She looked down at it. The number was her home so it was her brother. If she answered it and told him to call the police... No... Her family would want to come and that would put them in danger. Once Cozen saw their faces he would know their names.

She looked back up still standing where she had before as her phone continued to ring.

"Drop the phone," the armed man said.

Cozen laughed. "I told you, you were being followed."

Her phone clattered to the ground. She had never felt so utterly alone in her whole life. What had she ever done to deserve this? Well she knew what she had done but still. After a moment the ring stopped and was followed by the ding that meant she had a new voice mail. She didn't dare answer Cozen, though she wanted to glare at him.

The man who had spoken then nodded and the team behind her attacked her. They blind folded her and moved her into the van. As soon as the doors were shut the van quickly started moving.

"Finished, Near," the man said before lowering the gun.

"Good work."

The mirrored interrogation room was now in use. This time to the task force's surprise, the girl wasn't strapped to the chair in a perverted fashion. They knew exactly what was necessary for Kira to kill.

"She has been searched completely," Near said coming forward, and giving L the report that he had received from the FBI agents that helped with the operation. Even if the U.S. hasn't given their support into catching Kira there were enough agents that would give their lives and positions for the sake of the catching Kira and for the sake of Near.

L nodded. "Does she know why she is here?"

"No, they haven't spoken a word to her or answered any questions."

Cozen dropped to Amaiha's side. "Now this is interesting. But I suppose now you can't talk to me at all."

She ignored him still furious about this whole thing. He had randomly killed someone and gotten her in to this mess. She was sitting against a wall with her knees drawn up to her chest. It felt uncomfortable being in some random cloths. For some reason the men in the black van had blindfolded and strip searched her. She was no longer blindfolded but would have felt much better if she had been given her own cloths back.

L's synthesized voice flooded into the room. "Hello, can you hear me?"

Amaiha blinked and looked around the room. "Yeah..."

"Good. Now, do you know why you are here?"

"No."

"You have been arrested under the suspicion that you are or are connected to Kira," L said with the same monotone voice.

"What!" She knew that Cozen had been trying to frame her but framing her for being Kira? That was far worse than she had thought. Now it made sense why he had told her she forgot her keys. It was to make her go digging in her purse and make her look guilty.

"Now you know. Questioning will be in an hour."

"Why in an hour?" Matsuda asked as the girl curled up more.

L pushed his chair back from the desk. "Because, she'll now be prepared for it. That and I'm not going to be questioning her."

"Your not?" They all seemed to ask that one in unison.

"No, Mello is."

"What am I doing?" Mello walked in just in time to hear the last line.

"You will be interrogating Ms. Amaiha, if you don't mind," L said. However, he more sounded like it was a set deal.

"Like I have a choice." He took a bite out of a chocolate bar.

"It will be in one hour."

Mello didn't give any sign that he heard and walked out of the room again.

"Are you sure about this Ryuzaki?" Matsuda asked.

"Yes."

"She doesn't have my notebook," Sidoh said.

Mello sighed. "I know that much."

"You do?"

"You would have said if she did."

"You do have a point there."

An hour passed quickly and Mello returned to the rest. "The rest of you leave," he said as he came to the chair next to L.

They did as they were told though would have stayed if given the chance. The whole thing was bound to be interesting.

Amaiha was still curled up next to the wall were she had been since L had talked to her.

"Amaiha Kyandi, are you Kira?" Mello quickly fired off. He used the same layers as L, however, the tone of the voice had clearly changed.

"No." The response was immediate but not so much that it sounded fake. She remained where she was.

"Do you know Kira?"

"No." Her voice was oddly firm considering she was scared half to death.

"What happened yesterday at 4:48?"

"I was walking home from work... Or I was in the grocery store." She wasn't quite sure which it was but it was one of them. She also was pretty sure that wasn't what the voice was asking for but it was the only information she could give since she didn't know what it was asking for.

"Do you know Maro Minowa?"

"No?" It took her a moment to realize that it was probably the name of the man Cozen had killed earlier.

Cozen laughed. "Sure you do. Or at least I do."

She almost snapped at him but stopped. After all talking to air wouldn't be a good thing.

Mello leaned back in his chair and sighed. He then pulled out the newspaper article that Matsuda brought in. "Then, do you know..." He started from the top and went down adding an 'or' in between the names.

"..." She should have seen that coming. Of course they were going to bring her friends in to this. "Yes." She answered as sorrow entered her tone of voice.

"How did they die?"

Her heart gave a little squeeze. "A lot of different ways." It was true enough. They had all died in various manners. She couldn't say a Shinigami killed them that wouldn't be believed at all.

"Did you kill them?"

"NO!" She glared in a random direction since she had no idea where the owner of the voice was.

"Then who did?" Mello raised his voice to match hers. It would be easier to keep her in the heat of the moment this way.

She muttered something, it might have sounded like. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Then you know who did."

"Yes..."

"Don't tell me it was the Shinigami."

Her eyes went wide in shock for the second time that night. "You know about Shinigami?"

"Now that I didn't expect," Cozen said as he looked more confused then happy about it.

"Where did you hide the notebook, Kira."

"I'm not Kira!" she shouted at the ceiling.

"Where did you hide the notebook?"

"..." The silence was her only answer. She couldn't tell them. But she wasn't Kira.

"If you are not Kira then why do you have a notebook?"

"I picked it up."

"And you killed someone..."  
"Mello... You are getting carried away..." L said shortly afterward not caring if the transmitter caught his voice or not.

"..." More silence. "Yes." Her voice was tiny this time.

"Then are you better then Kira?" Mello said.

"No." She had never said that she was; only that she wasn't Kira.

"You can kill without being Kira?"

"I'm not Kira..." There were tears in her eyes now she couldn't help it. She hadn't expected that boy to die simply because his name was written in a note book.

Mello sighed. "Then where's the notebook."

"I can't tell you."

"Then you will be staying here."

"Staying?"

"Yes."

"But... I have to go to work..."

L then took control of the mic. "I already took care of that."

"Oh..."

"Your manager is nice. He said you can take your job back after this."

"Oh..." She was trying to register everything... she felt a pang for her apartment. She was probably going to lose it.

"I have also taken care of your previous living arrangements."

She blinked confusedly again. Considering she had been arrested they were being awfully nice. Then again she wasn't Kira, but they didn't seem to believe that. So what happened now she just stayed in here until she decided to give them the death note... which was more likely to be until Cozen killed her.

"Tell us if you decide to give up the notebook," L said ending the discussion.

"You are being too nice to her," Mello said leaning back in his chair.

"We have all that we need. She has a notebook, she has a Shinigami, but she isn't the Kira we are after."

"You are aware that the Shinigami is the one killing people. He could easily kill us."

That froze L. After a moment he took a deep breath. "If that happens then it happens. untill then this is how we are doing it."

Amaiha leaned back so that her head hit the wall with a small thud. This was all too much. After everything that had been happening she had thought that maybe she could have gotten back to something that sort of resembled a normal life. Apparently she had been dead wrong. She gave Cozen a hard glare silently wishing that he would never find the stupid death note once he'd killed her.

"You are lucky. They already know about Shinigami and the note book. That made it easy to prove your innocence," Cozen said. "And now I know you can talk to me so no ignoring me."

"Aren't you going to kill me now?" She didn't feel like talking to him but if she had to then that would be the subject in the front of her mind. Just the other day he had said he would. "And I wouldn't say my innocence was proved."

"Kill you?" Cozen started laughing. "Things are now interesting! Why would I do that?"

"I'm arrested aren't I? I'm not going to give them the note book so I'm stuck here. You did say that in this situation you would just write my name in your death note and kill me."

"You are arrested yes. But you're not in prison."

"You just love to torture me don't you." She remained curled up there was no reason to move.

"Would you rather die?"

"No..." She didn't want to be here either though she wanted to go home and help her brother with his math homework and then to paint some more of her wall.

_Kinne340: Hello! It has been a really long time since I have updated this one. I will try to get at least one more chapter up today. Also I will continue working on my Matt story for anyone who is also reading that. I hope you enjoy the chapter. Poor Amaiha is not having a very good day. Happy easter!_


	6. Settling in

"L, how long are you going to keep her in there?" Matsuda asked as they all were sitting around the lobby's table. "It has been a week and she hasn't given any other information. She has even denied having Shinigami Eyes."

"Have the Shinigami made contact, Mello?" Near said shortly afterwards not waiting for L to answer the original question.

"No they haven't," he replied quickly.

"That is our main concern isn't it L? Amaiha isn't the threat; it is how much of a threat her Shinigami is." The white haired boy didn't look at him as he was sure he was hitting plenty of sensitive spots on the Great Detective.

Sidoh shifted uncomfortably. "I would rather not talk to him..."

Mello looked up at the Shinigami. That turned everyone's attention to him. This he was getting use to. However, that didn't make it any less annoying. L distracted himself with sweets that have been arranged on the table.

"Why is that?" Mello asked.

"Well... I don't really get along with the other Shinigami..."

"You don't have a notebook to lose now."

"Heheh, good point..."

The others started to get impatient. Just as Mello was annoyed with being the only one able to see him so was the Task Force. Mello took a chocolate bar from L's arrangement of sweets and unwrapped it. "Then let's get it over with." There was the click from the bar snapping between his teeth.

"I really wish we could hear the whole conversation." Matsuda said after the click of the chocolate.

"I don't," Mello said getting up. "Come on Near. I'm doing your dirty work."

"Alright then." Near got up and followed Mello.

"What did we miss..." Mogi said.

"I... don't know..." Aizawa and Matsuda said.

They all got up and followed. L did not.

"Hey, Ryuzaki, are you coming?" Matsuda asked.

"Uh, no. I have work to do here..."

The other two looked at Matsuda, feeding him the information he forgot. "Oh right," he said trying to act like he knew exactly what work L was doing.

"Amaiha," Mello said into the transmitter.

"Yes?" She was board out f her mind by now. It was almost bad enough that she wished Cozen would just kill her already, well not quite that bad but pretty bad.

"We agree that you have a Shinigami, correct?"

"I wouldn't say that I have him, but yes he's here." In the back of her mind she scolded her self for being a smart aleck but it was true.

"Over your right shoulder, has a skull mask for a face and wears a black cloak," Mello rattled off with a demented smile.

"He gets a kick out of being in control doesn't he..." Mogi said to the others.

The other task force members silently agreed as they watched.

"Yes..." Amaiha wasn't sure exactly why his description was needed or why he knew what Cozen looked like...

"These people are interesting..."Cozen said moving closer to the mirror."How do they know what I look like..." He pulled back for a second before pressing his face against the glass. "Wait a minute... Sidoh?"

"Hi, Cozen," he said in his nasally voice. _Why does everyone start conversations with my name that way?_

The shinigami move into the room with Amaiha. After all, Mello can see Sidho where ever he went.

"Huh?" Amaiha gave Cozen an very confused look. What was going on?

"No wonder they know what I look like. They have a Shinigami of there own," Cozen explained to her and replying to Sidoh and the same time.

"Yeah, that's about right," he said.

"Yeah that makes things so much less confusing," Amaiha's head was starting to hurt.

"So what are you doing here Sidoh? Don't tell me you..."

"Yeah..."

"So which human has it?"

"Don't know... And neither do you..." Sidoh sighed.

"You got that right."

Mello leaned against the arm of his chair. Now he only had half the conversation and felt everyone else's pain. How could they stand it?

"What are they saying?" Near asked.

"Nothing important..." Mello said annoyed.

"What's going on?" Amaiha's headache was getting worse she didn't understand anything anymore.

"I already told you. You're captors have a Shinigami. A noteless one though."

She didn't answer but didn't ask anymore questions either it was all too much for her brain to comprehend in its current state.

"Matsuda... You can release her..." L said from the doorway. He was pale, consciously knowing that there were two Shinigami right in front of him.

"What?" the task force said.

"The Shinigami clearly isn't going to kill us."

Mello nodded. The Shinigami were now talking to each other, conversing ideas about Kira he could guess.

Matsuda went to the door and unlocked it. Amaiha hadn't really moved much in her week of captivity. Once in a while she would get up and pace the room but most of the time she stayed in her little corner. The corner was were she was now, her head throbbing in confusion. Her orange hair flopped limply in to her face when she turned her head to the door.

"Hey, you can come out now," Matsuda said turning slight to the spot where he thought the Shinigami were.

"I can?"

"Yeah. Well, out of this room anyway."

"Oh." That was something unexpected. By staying there she had assumed that it meant in that white room. She stood up and slowly approached the door.

"By the way I'm... uhhh... Taro Matsui," He said with a smile. It took him a moment to remember what his fake name was from five years ago. After Light's name was _cleared_ he stopped using the name.

"Nice to meet you." It was said politely but also a little awkwardly. He seemed nice and everything but under the circumstances...

"I'm sorry you had to go through that... but we have to be cautious." Matsuda didn't really know what else to say. He was told to get her but not what happens after that." Now, uh, come meet the others..."

"Ok?" This had to be the most awkward situation ever in her whole life. On the bright side of things they couldn't really be thinking she was Kira all that much or they would never have let her out. It was still awkward though.

She followed him out of the room and was almost overjoyed when her eyes were suddenly assaulted by color.

He lead her to the darker room of the lobby area which they all now where. He could only assume that the Shinigami were still conversing where he left them... but he couldn't be for certain. "Meet..." He drew a blank at the other's names.

"Aihara," Aizawa said quickly.

"Kanichi Moji."

"Call me Near," Near said. The rest of the world only knew him as N so Near was still a safe name, besides it was his code name anyway.

"Mello."

"I am Ryuzaki. Welcome to task force, Miss Amaiha," L said looking up from his sweets that he returned to.

Amaiha blinked. So these were the people that were working on the Kira case. They didn't look like much. But who was she to judge. "Nice to meet you all." She bowed in greeting.

L, still rather pale, started to put sugar into his coffee. "You will be staying here untill you give up the notebook. Please make yourself comfortable."

She just stood there for a moment trying to work up the courage to ask what she waned to ask. "Umm is there anyway I could get a change of cloths, and maybe a shower?"

"Sure, Matsui, take her to Misa's old floor. Anything there you can use."

"Floor?"

"She was very materialistic."

"Ok?" As long as she could get clean she was good. After a week it was not a pleasant feeling.

"If there is anything you need ask. I cannot guarantee that you will get it though."

"Thank you." She almost sighed but held it back for now. This was going to take some getting used to.

"This way, Amaiha!" Matsuda lead her to the elevator. He pressed the button 63 and the elevator instantly started moving. "Sorry we had to do that to you. But we have to be careful!"

"I understand." She did sigh this time. Her anger toward Cozen had not left her. if it wasn't for him she would be home right now. In a way she still knew that she deserved for this to be happening but still she wished it was for what she had actually done and not what someone else was doing. "I'm not Kira..." She muttered it more to herself. She was tired and therefore her emotions were a little out of whack. It was a little traumatizing to be violently yanked out of your comfortable world and plunged just as violently in to a new one.

The elevator ride was long and quiet. Matsuda just had to make up a subject. "Do you like babies?"

"Yes." She smiled slightly. It was such a random and off topic question.

He smiled. "Do you like stories...?"

She nodded wondering were in the world he was going with this.

That made him beam. "You wouldn't mind hearing stories about my son would you?"

"Sure." Her smile got bigger. So random, but nice.

"Yes! I finally found someone that wants to listen... Everyone else has started to get annoyed with me."

"I see." And that almost had her laughing.

"He's the best thing that happened to me! Well, other then my wife, she's the most amazing woman in the world!"

Amaiha listened quietly with the big grin on her face. He was a very happy man especially when talking about his family. "They sound wonderful."

"They are!"

At least things were less awkward now. A little bit anyway. "Do you get to see them much?"

"Quiet a bit actually... But I don't see that lasting."

"That's sad." She felt bad for him. After all she wished so much that she could see her family.

"It's worth it though. I want what's best for him."

"That's amazing."

"Is it?" He was still beaming.

They chatted about Matsuda's family for another couple of minuets then the elevator reached the floor. "Thank you very much Mr. Matsui."

"No problem. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Maybe directions?" Mostly she was asking about cloths after all it wouldn't take to long to locate a bathroom.

"Oh umm..." He turned his eyes up in thought. He was trying to remember all of the cameras and the rooms that they were in then he rattled off many places that clothes could be. He said four closets and one dresser.

"Thank you." She bowed and headed off to find something to change in to after her shower.


	7. Marching onward

"Hey, Yayoi," the black skined girl said from the bed. "Look at this." She was comfortably sprawled out on the sheets with statistics surrounding her all with the common theme, Kira. Now it was if you weren't studying Kira you were weird. Odd how the opinions of Kira returned full swing, and were ten times stronger then a year ago.

Her friend came to the bed. She had to sit on the bed to even get close to being able to read the text on the white background.

"I was doing background checks on some of the recent murders. They don't match up, even more then the random murders." The African girl made a few clicks and brought up miniature summaries of each of the Kira victims. "In the past month there has been a rise in murders that are completely innocent. And look at this." She started scrolling through the results.

"None of them are Japanese..."

"Exactly. There is this one right here that was done two weeks ago that was innocent and of Japanese ethnicity. But that's it."

"Are you sure that they are completely innocent?"

"Yep. My sources never lie, especially when it is related to Kira."

"But why is Kira targeting these people then."

"Well, that's simple, Yayoi. This isn't Kira," Ziraili said with a smile. "This isn't the Kira we described in the broadcast."

"Remember, we assumed parts of it."

"Still. This isn't Kira. I know it isn't."

Yayoi smiled. "And these are not the odd killings either. It has been a while since I have seen those... Other then the one right there."

"Maybe the police are trying to go after Kira and caught him."

"I doubt that. But it is still an option."

After a few more hours compiling new information about Kira, Ziraili left the apartment. There was only so much of sitting in one place she could take. As usual, Yayoi turned down the offer to join her.

"So... there is another Kira..." Yayoi said to herself. "It won't be long till those murders are going to be noticed... Then what will I say?" She started pacing in her room. Moving never did help her think, not any more then sitting down, but moving gave her something else to do while she thought. "That Kira isn't behind the sudden racist killings?"

There were already far too many of these race related killings to put down as mere coincidence. There was someone with a Death Note killing them under the guise of Kira. "He's going to ruin my name..." she growled.

Yayoi walked over to her desk and started pulling out spiral notebooks and putting them on the desk, all the way to the bottom where the Death Note lay. The white letters Death Note scrawled by an unsteady hand. The instructions on how to use the Death Note were right inside the cover.

"Whoever's name written in this Notebook shall die..." She whispered to herself. It had become a habit for her to say that whenever she took out the notebook, as if it was a reminder to what power she held in her hands.

"Once we solve one mystery another one is started," Aizawa sighed. He put his head into his hand staring at the recent unexplainable murder. "I though that since we had Amaiha, these _odd_ murders would stop."

"You would think so wouldn't you?" Matsuda was still cheerier than they rest of them, part of which might be because he now had someone to tell stories about his family to who didn't groan.

"This is proving to be more trouble then we thought," Near said as he started to make a new stack of dice.

"You forget we have only been on this case for a few months," L said. "Given that... we already have one of the owners of a Death Note. I consider that to be a great accomplishment."

"Just not the one that's the problem." Mello as seemed to be usual now, sounded like he was in a bad mood." This puts us to no leads once again."

The room fell silent as they were reminded of that fact. Even Matsuda seemed to deflate.

"I'm not worried," L said.

The door opened and Amaiha hovered just inside of it uncomfortably. She was wearing a black tank top and a gothic looking skirt. The cloths fit her well enough. She hadn't left the floor she was staying on since they let her out of the white room. It was only logical to stay out of their way, their work was important. But, it had been a week and she was practically going insane.

L pulled out a skewer and started putting a random assortment of dough on it. Then he held it out behind him. "Dough Kabob?"

"Umm no thank you." She said rather meekly. "I... was wondering..."

"Are you sure?" The kabob went from being held upward to depressingly being tilted downward.

She bit her lip and walked farther in to the room, taking the kabob. "Thank you." She didn't like to turn people down.

He smiled before turning around. As usual, he sat with his knees up to his chest. "You wanted something?"

"hmm? oh. uh well... Is there... anything I would be able to do that would be useful... at all?" She held the dough kabob not yet eating it.

"Not really," he said a little too quickly.

"Oh." Now it was her turn to deflate. "Well thank you again." She walked back to the door to get out of their way again.

"You can get me a coffee if you want," he said already turned back to the table. His original coffee was in his hand under the table hiding it from her view.

Matsuda laughed a little to himself but tried to hide it. It reminded him of the time when he asked a similar question and had that response.

"Ok!" She was a little to enthusiastic and rushed to get the coffee. She was gone longer than she should have been but eventually came back with a hot cup of coffee and a still fully in tact and forgotten about dough kabob.

"Thank you," L took the cup and started to put sugar in it. However it was more then just a few spoonfuls. "You should eat that..."

She looked away from the sugar going in to his coffee, down to her hand and seemed to be completely surprised that she was holding something "oops." She took a bite." It's good."

L smiled but said nothing more. He still was putting sugar into his cup.

Feeling that she had outstayed her welcome she decided to leave but at least she was a tiny bit helpful. "Sorry for bothering you. Thank you again." She bowed to them again and headed back to where she came from.

"Ryuzaki, remember when you did that to me?"

"What?" L looked at Matsuda completely confused. It wasn't an odd thing for Matsuda.

"Five years ago when I asked for something to do you made me get you coffee."

"I did, did I... Surely it was for a different reason."

"..." Matsuda didn't know if he should have taken that as an insult or not. "Oh I'd better get going" He said after checking the time.

"Where do you have to go Matsu-i?" Mogi said nearly messing up the name.

"I'm going to go check on Sayu and Mrs. Yagami." He lost a little bit of the cheerfulness.

"Yagami...?" Mello said turning to Matsuda.

"Yeah." To Matsuda's credit he tried very hard to keep the hostility out of his eyes. He just wasn't very successful.

Mello looked directly at him for a moment before breaking eye contact to take a bite of chocolate. However the want to eat chocolate was gone. Instead of taking a bite his hand rested on his thigh with the chocolate still in it.

"How are they?" Mogi asked ignoring Mello completely.

"A little better I think... Sayu's starting to respond more and I think it's good for Mrs. Yagami to see her getting better."

"That's good," L said suddenly.

Matsuda gave L a smile. "Well I better get going. Wouldn't want to show up at their door to late." He then left a little more cheerful than he had been a moment ago. The loss of chief Yagami and the fate of his family was something that weighed on all of the task force from time to time. It was a constant reminder of the danger this case was not only to them but to those they loved.

It was another couple of days before Amaiha ventured off her floor again. She spent most of that time tracking down a washer so she could do laundry. But eventually need drove her back down to the floor were the Kira investigation was taking place. She once again found her self hanging right inside the doorway, this time wringing her hands nervously. It was probably bad idea to ask what she was about to ask but she had to try.

There was only Near, L, and Aizawa in the room. It didn't look like any of them was doing much work, perhaps out of not knowing where to look now.

"Is there something I can help you with, Miss Amaiha?" Rodger asked walking towards her from another entrance.

"I wanted... to ask... Would it be possible for me to...?" She stopped, feeling very uncomfortable she was pretty sure she already knew what the answer was...

"Let me guess... This is a question for one of them," Rodger said pulling back and flourishing his arm towards L.

Well there was no turning back now, she supposed it would b better to at least ask after all it wasn't as if they were going to eat her or something. She nodded and took a deep breath in before moving farther in to the room.

Near looked up from his work for a minute but then looked back down at his work. Not that she would ask him, but he made sure to look as if he didn't want to be bothered by her. Aizawa seemed more fascinated by his coffee then the fact that there was someone else in the room. His bags started to look as bad as L's but not nearly as attractive.

"Umm?" She stared softy not wanting to bother them but wanting to ask all the same. She wasn't quite sure who she should even ask in the first place so whoever answered her she guessed.

"Do you need something?" L asked still looking fixated on the screen of running numbers.

"Would it be at all possible for me to make a phone call?" She was looking down at her feet and her orange bangs flopped in her eyes. She came right out and asked though not wanting to chicken out.

"One phone call?" He asked as his eyes continued to scan. His voice wasn't different then if he was talking straight to her face.

"Yes." She would have asked for more but thought it would be very unlikely for her to have access to a phone as much as she would like. What exactly she was going to tell her brother she wasn't sure.

"Are you sure?" he asked. His eyes finally broke from the screen as he started rummaging through his pants pocket, the one farthest from her.

Her mouth opened and closed again as she grew more and more confused the more she thought about it. "umm?"

He then pulled out her cell phone and held it by charm. "How about this instead?"

"Really?" She couldn't help but ask the question. She looked up at him questioningly.

He nodded still dangling the phone.

She reached out and took it, cradling it in her hands as if it was the most precious thing in the world. She fingered the little paintbrush charm turning it over. "Thank you." Amaiha almost though she was going to cry. She could call her brother and now she had her cell phone charm again.

"I should tell you. Your conversation will be recorded. I am sure I don't have to tell you what you cannot say."

She nodded still overjoyed to have her phone back. It wasn't too bad to have her conversation recorded she wasn't going to be saying anything private so it really didn't bother her.

"Thank you." She repeated not taking her eyes off the little charm.

"Who is it that you want to call...?" L asked now looking at her.

"My brother." Her answer came almost as soon as the question was out of his mouth. Her brother had been on her mind constantly. They usually talked every night and he was probably worried about her.

"You are worried about him?"

Amaiha nodded. "I usually help him with his homework every night."

"That's nice," L said but it wasn't sarcastic.

Amaiha smiled and left he room so she could flop down on the bed and call her brother.

"Amaiha!" Her little brother sounded like he had run to the phone and she felt so bad for worrying him, even if the situation was out of her control.

"Hey, how have you been?"

"Where were you, you didn't return any of my calls!" He ignored her question to ask his own.

"I'm sorry I've been in bed the whole time I was pretty sick." she was sincerely apologetic even if her reasons were false.

"Oh, You should have called I would have come and taken care of you."

She smiled. "Thanks but I was pretty much out of it. I had a friend taking care of me though." She said it to ease his nerves.

He sighed. "If you say so..."

"So how's your math class?"

"Well..."

Amaiha laughed "Go get your text book." He did as he was told and she spent the next hour helping him with the problems.

Later that night her guilt kept Amaiha awake. She tossed and turned but couldn't get comfortable. This happened a lot since she first found the death note. The only way to actually get any sleep was basically to exhaust herself which with out work or anything to paint was pretty much impossible.

Where Cozen was... That she didn't know, or care. Even when she was board to death she wouldn't talk to him. If that made the Shinigami angry she didn't really care at this point. It would simplify things for a lot of people if she was dead anyway.

In the end she decided that what she really needed was to calm down. She wondered if they had any tea in the kitchen. She sighed and headed down stairs and found something warm to drink. On her way back upstairs she noticed lights on still. Were they still at it at midnight?

Curiously she poked her head in the door. The room was empty except for Ryuzaki who was apparently still working diligently despite the late hour.

"You're still working?"

"Yes, I don't sleep," he said lying and yet not.

"Oh." She looked around the room again. "If you wanted something to drink or anything I could get it for you."

"I am good," he said lifting up his coffee and setting it back down.

"Ok..." She drummed her fingers on her cup for a moment. "You wouldn't mind if I sat in here for a little bit would you?" She was lonely. The only person she had to talk to was Cozen and she refused to talk to him she was still so mad. Sure they probably wouldn't talk but it would be good just to be with someone for a while.

"Not at all. Pull up a chair."

"Thank you." She picked a random chair and took a sip of her tea. She watched Ryuzaki curiously. The other times that she had been down here she hadn't really paid much attention to any of them. He was a very odd person to put it lightly. She would believe that he didn't sleep from the dark circles under his eyes. She wondered how comfortable sitting like that actually was.

He continued to skim the information on the screen just as soon as it appeared before scrolling again. He only gave her a nod not losing his spot at all or slowing down.

She turned to the screen and wondered how he was reading it for a moment before looking down at her cup and taking another sip of tea. Her thoughts turned back to the inside of her head rather than her surroundings. Every once in a while she would take a sip of tea. Her thoughts were whirling around in her head still.

"I didn't think it was real..." She wasn't sure why she said it. Maybe it was one of those things that you needed to talk to someone about before you went insane.

"Neither did I," L said oddly knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"I didn't... mean to kill anyone..." She swiped at her eyes quickly before she started crying.

"I know. You don't look like the type that would murder someone." But then neither did Light. But he had the ability to lie through his teeth. In seconds Amaiha broke down to guilt and it seemed genuine. Always there was something about Light that wasn't right... other then when he was handcuffed to him.

"I guess that doesn't make it much better though. I didn't think the note book was real but I read the rules and still wrote someone's name in it..." She knew she was a murderer and that was probably the worst thing about the whole situation. The fact of the matter was no matter how slight it was and the fact that she didn't know the note book was real, she had still wanted that boy to die...

"Everyone wishes someone to die. That doesn't make them an evil person as long as they do not follow through." It didn't seem now that L was reading the information it just remained still on the screen. "Why did you want the boy to die?"

Amaiha pretended to take a sip of tea in order to delay saying it. "A black eye, a concussion, sprained wrist, 15 stitches and over 25 bruises." She took a deep breath and this time really did take a drink of the tea. She had counted them all up many times before trying to tell herself that they added up to a justification for what she had done, they never did though.

He was now looking at her from the corner of his eye. "I understand," he said lowering his voice some as well as his eyes. There was nothing at the moment he could do, all his sweets were put away other then his coffee.

"He wasn't even going to get a mark put on his records. His family gave big donations to the school. My brother went to the hospital three times that week and officially it was because he was a klutz and kept falling down stairs."

"Justice..." he laughed sarcastically a bit to himself.

Her eyes lowered a bit. She couldn't feel anymore ashamed of herself than she did on an everyday basis but it was different when somebody else knew... but oddly a little relieving as well.

"You really don't think I'm a terrible person?"

"No. You are kind and are looking out for the safety of the world, even if it means incriminating yourself."

Amaiha blinked at him. She couldn't understand his reasoning. But either way she was feeling a great deal happier, not better about what she did just not as much like a monster.

"Though, I have to admit, I'm glad Kira is not like you. Then we'd never find the Death Note."

She smiled and took another drink. At least she could do that. For the moment she could keep the death note away from other people.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Is it really comfortable to sit like that?" She just had to know.

"I am not sure. I can't sit any other way." He meant this both physically and mentally. He wasn't sure if he could stand sitting like everyone else.

"You can't?"

"My intellect would drop by 40% if I sat normally."

"Really? That's possible?" Your intelligence could drop just because of the way you sat? It didn't sound possible.

"Yes. I should prove it to you sometime... If I don't go insane from it."

"I'll take your word for it." She still looked confused but if he needed to sit like that then he needed to sit like that. "Oh, and thank you again for my cell phone."

"You are welcome, Miss Amaiha."

Suddenly there was a noise from one of the corners then, "Who fell asleep first!"

"I wasn't paying attention," L said shortly afterward.

Mello twitched a little bit. "You honestly expect me to believe that YOU weren't paying attention?"

"Yes."

"Who fell asleep first?" He persisted, As Amaiha was looking traumatized.

"You both did. Are you satisfied?"

"..."

Amaiha looked at Mello's face he looked far from satisfied.

"I'm going to bed." he grumbled, then left.

"Goodnight" L called off though Mello far from cared. "Is there something wrong?"

"uhhh... He really was asleep that whole time right?"

"He was completely out... Actually, I'm surprised he even woke up."

"Oh ok." She looked a little happier but still a little uneasy. Her cup was now empty she looked at it a little sadly. It had been her excuse to stay.

"He... wasn't the only one here." L leapt from his chair and carefully climbed into Near's model of a city. "He's far too old for this..." Easily he lifted the 18 year old and deftly leapt over the model. Near's black circles shown much worse then Mello's and didn't really look to good on him at all. But he stayed fast asleep despite the moving. "Do you want to join me?"

"Uh sure." She stood looking a little perplexed at the ease with which Ryuzaki was carrying Near.

He smiled and lead the way to the elevator. "I thought you saw that they were in there."

Amaiha shook her head. "No. not at all." She followed him still amazed that he could carry someone that easily.

"Their games are childish. Always Mello is challenging him to prove he's better then him or even myself.

"Really? Why?" It didn't make any sense.

"Near and Mello are... some of the brightest people I know. However, Near wins at everything. Mello wants to be better than Near... It is a vicious cycle."

"Wow." She really couldn't imagine it being that important to out do someone. Then again she had always been an average person maybe things like that were more important when you were more than just average at something. "How do you play in to this?"

"I am... their role model... I am smarter then both of them... and I am not just saying that. It is a proven fact."

"Oh." That made a tiny bit more sense. "So they had a contest to see who would fall asleep first?"

"I assume so."

"Seems odd." Maybe it wasn't an over average thing maybe it was a boy thing.

"Yes. But I am glad it is this and not Mello just attacking him... that was one thing he could always win."

"They actually fight?" yet somehow she wasn't all that surprised.

"No. I said Mello attacked him. I said nothing about Near attacking back."

"Ouch."

"That was also... nearly 12 years ago."

"Oh." She surprised herself by yawning. "Oh wow I'm actually tired." She said as the elevator door opened.

"You should rest then Miss Amaiha," L said. "Also, don't fear coming down to the lobby. No one will be angry... And I can multi task quiet well."

"Alright." She sounded a bit hesitant but would do it. As long as she wasn't in the way.

"Have a good night."

"You too." She looked at the circles under his eyes. They looked like they were permanently etched there. "Maybe you should get some rest too?"

"There is no need to worry this is how I always look."

"Ok..." She would have to take his word for it after all he should know what's best for him. "Good night Mr. Ryuzaki."


End file.
